The Bigfoot Discovery Museum has hit the road! That’s right Mike Rugg and Ralph Jack just left on their road trip with the producer filming their forthcoming Documentary (working title above)! Their first stop is Willow Creek California, just about any hour from Bluff Creek, the site of the famous Patterson and Gimlin Film of “Patty” the female Sasquatch walking along a sand bar in 1967.

While in Willow Creek they will be conducting interviews with local’s who knew Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin at the time of their filming, as well as local Bigfoot Historians, and members of the Bluff Creek Film Site Project. Perhaps they will even come upon one of Patty’s friends or relatives and make history all over again!

From Northern California they will be heading up through Oregon to Yakima Washington where they will be interviewing Bob Gimlin and Patricia Patterson, Roger Patterson’s widow, both of whom will also appear in the Documentary. They also hope to interview on camera, or at least talk to, Al DeAtley Jr., Roger’s brother-in-Law and Bigfoot Enterprises Business Partner, who for three years funded Roger’s dream of discovering and proving the existence of Bigfoot.

The “Big Reel One” film footage, pictured above, was bequeathed to Mike Rugg and the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in the spring of this year by the family of the person Roger had given it to before his death. This is the film that Roger and Al DeAtley used to introduce the “Patty” footage we are familiar with today, as they toured the country in the late sixties and early 70’s to raise money to further their research and fund their business plans. This film would be shown at local theaters and event halls to generate interest and donations, then the footage of Patty walking along Bluff Creek would be shown. This all took place during the same period of time in which the “Minnesota Ice Man” was on tour, and once that was inferred to be a hoax and disappeared from the public eye, attendance to the Patterson and Gimlin Film Footage unfortunately also went into a steep decline, and Roger and Al called off the continued showings scheduled around the country.

This Reel itself had not been shown publicly since the very early 1970’s, when the touring ended, until October 20th 2012 at the Bigfoot Discovery Days V in Felton California. Patricia Patterson gave her blessing to its showing that day, as a fund raiser for the Museum, and has again generously given permission for all 40 minutes of it’s contents to be included in the upcoming Patterson Big Reel One Documentary, along with the Patterson Gimlin Film itself! In return she will receive a small percentage of the proceeds and the film reel, pictured above, will be handed over to her by Mike Rugg upon his arrival in Yakima in the next few days, so it can be included amongst the Patterson Family Legacy of all that Roger left behind. The Bigfoot Discovery Museum will retain their DVD copy to be used for further historical and educational purposes.

Also appearing in the upcoming Documentary will be the speakers and presentations of Bigfoot Discovery Days V, including Mike Rugg himself, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, and Bill Munns discussing and showing footage of his research and recreations proving unequivocally that the claims of Bob Heironimus and his “suit” could not in fact have been responsible for the figure filmed by Roger and Bob in 1967.

Mike hopes that this upcoming Documentary will put to rest once and for all the many and varied false claims set forth by those seeking to discredit the work and memory of Roger and Bob, by simply seeking fame for themselves with ludicrous stories and misinformation. Anyone who has any information they think would be helpful towards the making of this Documentary is encouraged to contact us here at this Blog, where it can be relayed to Mike on the road. And if you would like to donate or become a member of the Bigfoot Discovery Project/Museum to help Mike keep things going until the release of this Documentary you can do so here: Donate

The Museum itself will be closed through Friday, but stay tuned for updates and news from the road!

3 Responses to “Patterson Big Reel One Documentary”

Re: “they toured the country in the late sixties and early 70’s to raise money to further their research and fund their business plans. This film would be shown at local theaters and event halls to generate interest and donations, then the footage of Patty walking along Bluff Creek would be shown. This all took place during the same period of time in which the “Minnesota Ice Man” was on tour, and once that was inferred to be a hoax and disappeared from the public eye, attendance to the Patterson and Gimlin Film Footage unfortunately also went into a steep decline, and Roger and Al called off the continued showings scheduled around the country.”

There is something wrong with the timing, the timeline, and the logic in the reasons for the decline in attendance.

The footage was taken in October 1967. It is stated it was shown in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Patterson and his partners (but not by Gimlin). The end date for this could not have been beyond 1972, when Roger Patterson died. Five years, max.

But the Minnesota Iceman was shown, mostly, from 1966 through the summer (maybe the fall) of 1969. It was brought back onto the state and stock fair circuit after that. There really wasn’t much press about it even being considered a hoax, in the mainstream media, only that it was a curiosity.

I’m not buying a link between the West Coast decline in Patterson’s “lectures” (occurring through the early 1970s, according to this press release) and anything happening with the East Coast media and Midwestern bookings of the Minnesota Iceman.

Frankly, won’t the decline in Patterson’s showings have more to do with his own illness and death in 1972?

I’m also slightly confused as to what, exactly, is in this “Big Reel One.” The blog says that this footage was shown to introduce the well-known Patty footage, so is just interviews? Is it additional footage shot on location? I don’t get it…

Jason….not sure either. What I gather is that the reel was used as sort of an explanatory lead-up to showing the Patty footage. It is, as stated, 40 minutes long. Obviously, if your only presentation is the actual Bluff Creek footage, you’re going to be giving a very short program. They obviously need to stretch that, build excitement and give the crowd their money’s worth. The actual Patty film would then, presumably, have a much greater oooompfff.

Patterson made no secret that he was hoping to get documentary footage at the time he captured Patty. (A point his detractors like to make…sort of like calling a man out for catching a fish after announcing he is going fishing) Guess this is the resulting documentary film. I’d be intrested to see it. Has anyone here?